Parading through Time
by Aeigns
Summary: Confession : the story isn't mine to begin with. I've just operated on its plot to make this outcome. Do not know what I was having in my mind. But this one was gathering dust as a saved document anyway so I finally released it. Featuring the flight of Harry through the Marauder's Era, forging a new identity for himself and ending the War almost a couple of decades early.
1. Scheming & Implementing the Plan

'My victory truly had a bad aftertaste,' thought Harry bitterly. So many had died. And for what? Voldemort was dead, true, but he didn't die by Harry's hand. He died through a fluke, a backfiring curse because Harry had coincidentally disarmed Draco Malfoy at Malfoy Manor and taken his wand in a struggle, giving him ownership over the dangerous wand. He had lived and Voldemort had died because the Elder Wand, the wand he now held in his hands, didn't work against his master. Talk about irony. It wasn't even two days after the last battle and there were already whispers.

Whispers about the Ministry returning to their old ways. That wasn't what he had fought for. He wanted more rights for non-purebloods, more chances. Better treatment of magical creatures. But the old pureblood houses had the money. It was something the light had massively ignored all the time. It had always been said that when Voldemort was gone things would be much better again. But that was only an illusion. How long had it taken for Voldemort to take over the Ministry? He had lain low for a year to collect his strength and prepare his army. Then one year of guerrilla tactics until he got rid of Dumbledore. The one person who could match him in a duel. After that, only two months. Two fucking months. After thirteen years of peace and the chance to clean house after Voldemort's first fall the Ministry had done nothing. They had failed the people and soon the people without money, without pure blood would be in a bad position again.

And he wasn't really in any different position. While he had got a letter from Gringotts that thanks to the Ministry paying for the damages that his, Ron's and Hermione's flight with the dragon had caused, including the dragon itself, his gold hadn't been confiscated, but they didn't want him as a customer anymore. He had to go there and empty his vault to collect all of his holdings within two weeks. Bastards. Ungrateful bastards. It was thanks to him and his friends that they got back control over their bank and didn't have to follow the orders of the Death Eaters anymore.

But that soon changed when he asked for an inheritance test. He was then shocked to find himself the proud heir of 13 of Britain's Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses. He was the now sole heir to the fortunes of – Emyrs, LeFay, Eveningshade, Dracul, Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff, Peverell, Potter, Black, Daniels and Evans. Add to that the fact that he eliminated 37 lords of noble houses the other day and thus inherited those fortunes too as rights of conquest.

Harry indeed took great pleasures in emptying his vaults and robbing Gringotts. All Winzengamot seats, and family manors of the families earned by conquests were liquefied and that earned him even another lot. Surprising addition was Voldemort's created islands that he bought a month before his first fall. Harry found petroleum and gold mines among those islands. He bought himself elves, and had them empty those too. One thing was for sure, the trunk seller earned a fortune out of all these stunts he pulled.

It was in these islands where he disappeared to – for the others a month, and for him some 300 years. Throughout all these adventures, though he was more than once intrigued to release them, but Harry had kept his true potential hidden. Not that that kept him from re-giving his O. after the horrible one he gave in his fifth year. Co-incidentally Harry took it under the name Hadrian Eveningshade – a family he later on found he was heir to. Master of 37 mind-arts, he ventured in his inner self to find his animagus the summer before his 4th year and found bindings on his core. He quickly had his core released only to find that it was too unstable at once and someone could easily find out he did something tampering. So he started the journey slowly.

In his mind he also found this foreign soul-piece and after some altercations learnt its origin by the time he was on Horecrux hunt. It was there that he separated the soul-piece's knowledge, magic and soul-body from its essence and then with further mind manipulation used the soul-body as a protective shield around his soul. It was bloody that which protected him from the dark lord's killing course the second time. He only bloody went to "sacrifice" himself to release the essence that acted as the horecrux and for him a nuisance. He was already immune to the killing curse due to his "shield."

He first unleashed the few useful abilities that he could without raising suspicions around. That included his shape-shifting abilities, eidetic and photographic memory and the one he found out to be the most useful – his ability of a realm-walker. It was then that he started mastering all those that he didn't have an affinity to. Wandless magic, alchemy, potions, elvine magic (through the aids of Dobby and later Winky, both of whom bonded to him with Kreacher and Floppy and turned to rather inhumanly pretty/handsome human-like elves of decent height after he bonded to them as his equals) and goblin magic (through an imperioused Griphook at shell cottage in a time realm).

One month on the islands , or rather 3 centuries for him, he started walking realms and other dimensions without any other interference or disturbance. Before unbinding his core he tracked down a Runespoor (Reah) in Australia, a basilisk (Sally) in North America, (he kept it a secret that he inherited the ability to speak parseltongue from his mum who was from a squib line of Salazar Slytherin) a nundu (Draunster) Africa, an Encantado (Gracy) in South America, a sigbin (Zieg) along with a roc (Riegel) in Asia and finally a Royal phoenix (Espeon) in Norway (as this almost extinct kind of phoenixes are the only known creatures who can create magic and it was analyzed that if bonded, can supply that to their master) – all of whom bonded to him to help him in his process this time and give their support. He also mastered body-magic as his ability on Espeon's advice.

After unbinding his blocks when his core went wild, Espeon supplied him enough magic to keep it regulated, but then he found that the core was growing and as Espeon said it'll grow for 7 days, and may grow more if supplied with enough magic. So for the next 7 days he sucked dry an Azkaban ward daily from a parallel universe where it got destroyed. Azkaban, as only a few may know, had wards older than Hogwarts and thus more magic than necessary.

He also took his revenge on goblins to a new level. He sucked dry all the Most Ancient and Most Noble House fortunes from 10 parallel universes where his counterparts died and the houses were left with no heirs. Sweet revenge. True as it was told. Revenge is best when served in cold.

In the 3 centuries he was there he mastered the siren charm, he inherited from his mother in whom it was dormant. His magical boost once his core stabilized and activation of siren heritage changed his appearance. He was now a respectable 6' 2" tall with shoulder-length hair. His hair was 3 quarters black with blood-red ending, and 1 quarter golden blonde. Amongst the blonde was an auburn strand that helped when he activated his siren-charm. He no longer required glasses and had aqua-emerald eyes now.

He also learnt a great deal in these "years." He learnt magic indiscriminately by delving himself into all arts he could get from the extensive books he got from all the family libraries he inherited, regardless of their nature. He thanked all his lucky stars that he inherited his eidetic and photographic memory from his mother. A "century" later he started on mastering his abilities and by the end of another half "century," all his previous abilities were mastered along with those of wielding Shadow mage affinity, mage-sight ability, Parselmagic prowess (thanks to Reah and Sally), and grace and perfected many obscure and lost arts like soulmagic, ritualism, bloodmagic, wandlore (he could now create foci for himself or anyone with aid of his mage sight and his foci were all sentinent with changing forms. A ring at its lowest stage, a wand when it was 4 times powerful than a ring, a cane when it was 10 times powerful than wand and finally staff when it was 50 times powerful than cane), etc. The elvine pop, shadow-channel, disintegration and flame-travel (taught by Espeon) gave him more options to travel magically (even through wards).

The 60 years was spent on sucking all important or non-important knowledge from all the books he had acquired from different families (he even stole a Hogwarts collection along with Dumbledore's personal one from the headmaster's office, from a dimension where the castle was brought down moments later). Here he was glad again of his memory abilities. The final 90 years he spent scouring the world in different dimensions and learning magic from various tribes. It was truly a relief to hi that in realms or dimensions not his own, he could control and even negate his metabolism, thus after 3 centuries of training he still emerged not more than a month older than when he entered the realm.

His friends were another sore topic. It seemed that again he had been forgotten. Ron was, if he wasn't snogging Hermione, bragging about his part in the fall of Voldemort. Hermione was busy organizing her return to Hogwarts to take her NEWTs. As if that couldn't wait. And Ginny was pestering him all the time. He didn't know why, but his feelings for her had drastically cooled down over the last few days. It had been similar while Ron was gone from the search. That was one thing he needed to think about. Now that he finally had the time to think. Well the best he could get to was involvement of amortenia that Ron must have dosed him with. But with no evidences, he thought better ignore the red-headed pigs for now and if required than cut off all ties. Neville and Luna were a constant support to him all this while, but he could understand, even they had jobs – still he was thankful for what little they did just to ensure his welfare. The both of them, truly were his best friends. But after his former friends' behavior one thing was now sure. If he was honest, nothing would change in the wizarding world after Voldemort's fall.

Throughout this all however he had found a constant companion, he kept secret, in Daphne Ophelia NoName. She had been disowned by her sister's and her fiancée- the Malfoy's connections in the ministry. For her fate of getting turned into a vampire in the fight of Hogwarts, where she fought for the children's safety unlike Astoria who preferred to hide, she was ousted by the slowly retarding government. Harry found her a month after his training regime and 3 after the war, begging on the streets, eating from the scrapes and living and wearing rags. He was on a stroll in Muggle England when somehow he came upon her and through one of his 37 mastered mind arts, learnt of her fate.

Though it was intriguing that the veela nature that only she received from her mother, who deceased off with her father last year when they refused to join Voldemort's causes, helped her gain only the retractable fangs, agility, stealth, and heightened senses of the vampire, but other than that she was a human – if only not more appealing due to her now dual heritage of 2 very sexual and alluring creatures. She didn't have their immortality or blood-lust, although Harry's mage-sight discovered that she had her core and magic boosted. The ministry however needed only that much to proclaim her 'dangerous,' confiscated her wand and deprived her of the inheritence and wealth her father had left her. Harry also learnt that her lust that she had hardly kept under control for the last 3 months, without the potions which she was taking from when her vela heritage matured when she was 14, was now deeply overwhelming her.

That was enough for Harry to walk ahead and scoop her fragile body into his arms, and while she protested vehemently, Harry remained unfazed even when she bit and drew blood from his hand. She eventually gave in as she was too weak by then and his body heat was soothing for her nerves. She with a final look to his face, got some hints of recognization, and finally the former 'Ice Princess of Slytherin' relaxed by snuggling closer to get more of the warmth radiating from her savior. She was as good as dead anyway, so being vulnerable to him at least was far better than whoring herself to quench both her lust and hunger. Her pride was long gone but she would have preferred death before whorring herself. Somehow she knew that he would keep her safe, and if it comes to worse, she found him more appealing to quench her lust with, if required, than a complete stranger.

But she was more than surprised when he didn't even ask for that. After taking her to his flat, he first handed her over to 2 very human like female elves who took her to the bathroom and for the next 3 hours thoroughly washed and cleaned her of all her dirt and grime. The hot water of the tub was a heaven to her and she was sure she was moaning when the elves started preening and rubbing all her dirt off her body. Even her hair was taken care of with tonics and shampoos that looked far more valuable than the ones her former family used. 3 hours later she was dressed in a room that the elves said to her surprise, was assigned to her by Pott-Harry, she better start calling him with some respect now. And she knew he felt more respected with his first name.

While one elf stayed with her in the room to dress her elegantly, with strange muggle devices that were surprisingly soothing, another went out to return shortly with a batch of vials she barely recognized as elixirs rather than potions. She knew Harry knew Alchemy by somehow recognizing a book he was reading in fifth year and forgot in library but retrieved later; that book she had once tried and failed to comprehend. What shocked her was that the bookmark was near the end, so that day she realized Harry was actually hiding his true potential – something she then kept secret from all to use as a potential blackmail material in the future but that plan was now out of the window a long ago. Elixirs are never sold in Diagon and are very costly if not brewed, so she knew Harry had them prepared. It was the first time she consumed elixirs but surprisingly found them a lot more effective, soothing and very pleasant in taste in comparison to their potion counter-parts.

Though she would cover it for now, but truly she was more and more touched by him for treating her like a human — something which she was accused of not being any longer. It was the first time anyone did so. Her parents, although they loved her, treated her like their plan to get more wealth through marriage contracts, and her sister treated her like the bane of her existence. Her only other acquaintance, her trusted best friend Tracy Davis used her as her protection from getting ostracized in snake-pit, and turned her back on her after she was disowned 3 months back. The fool-hardy lion though was the first one to treat her like a human and somewhere deep inside she felt warm about it, though she wouldn't get her hopes up. But somewhere she knew that once again the noble git expected nothing from her – even she couldn't have guaranteed she could have pulled off such a feat had she been in his shoes.

To add to her already growing surprise, he even had the lust-repressor elixir brewed for her in all this time and an entire batch was handed to her before she could either deny or accept them. That thoroughly broke down whatever was left of the suspicion that he might be taking advantage of her.

* * *

History was repeating itself. There was the fallen head of the pureblood movement, but his followers (though not very influential or wealthy like the ones Harry slayed but still large in numbers) kept their money. It was entirely like it had been with Grindelwald. Many members of the Knights of Walpurgis, Grindelwald's version of the Death Eaters, had been able to worm their way out of punishment by paying bribes to the political leaders. A hero was praised for defeating the leader and either he could play along and change small things for the better or he could try and be denied living in peace. Both options weren't really enticing. The problems this time lay too far in the past. The thirteen years of corruption couldn't simply been forgotten.

Bagnold had given too many Death Eater a 'You get out of prison card' if they only gave her enough gold or names of others that could be put in prison to look good in the eyes of the public. The Lestranges had been the exception of that rule. Bagnold could as well have been a Death Eater herself. Her failure to clean house had laid the foundation of the victory of the pureblood fanatics. Voldemort was only the head of the snake. And another head would sprout now that this one had been cut off.

Fudge had allowed the infection to turn into a full blown disease with no chance of treatment. Kingsley was a better choice for Minister and his first measures had been good, but Harry had no delusions that he could win any election. He had no financial backing as the money was with the old houses that had supported Voldemort. They wouldn't even need to lie low this time. They were in control of the Ministry. Their people were in the important positions. Kingsley would have the position for as long as the rich purebloods would need to get their acts under Voldemort's reign covered up.

After all, only a few Death Eaters were known by name and if anybody knew those that were less known, there were ways to shut them up. That had happened often enough in the past. Money could go a long way. And the most infamous Death Eaters had fallen in the Battle of Hogwarts. If they weren't arrested by now they would get away. And many masked Death Eaters had run after Voldemort's fall, using the happiness of the victors to get away undetected. Who could say who they really were? No, this wasn't a victory, it was hollow. It would crumble before the year was over.

The main culprit, as unbelievable as many would see it, was Albus Dumbledore. He had let too many Death Eaters get away with a slap on the hand, preaching forgiveness and second chances. You didn't give murderers and rapists, torturers and sadists second chances. Those crimes were unforgivable and deserved to be punished accordingly. You didn't let them run free. Not if you had veritaserum at your disposal.

Next were of course the Ministry and Voldemort himself. The corruption and incompetency on sides of the Ministry and the long-term planning and enticing of the rich purebloods in society by Voldemort did their part too. Harry hadn't realized it before, but all the businesses in Diagon Alley were owned by purebloods. All potion ingredient farms belonged to purebloods. Same for clothes manufacturers, wand component suppliers and so on. The whole European magical businesses were to ninety-five per cent in pureblood hands. The British were the worst concerning blood status mania, but the other countries were only slightly better in letting others get financial power. Oh, you could get better positions like in the Ministries as a muggleborn or halfblood. Certain magical creatures were also much better tolerated, but getting a chance to open a business required money. And that was in the hands of old pureblood houses that guarded their power jealously.

No, the only way to change anything would be going back in time. He had taken his time to think after he had woken up from his sleep after the battle. And he knew that he needed more information about his new powers, if they existed, from being the Master of Death. So he had gone to Dumbledore's office and summoned all books concerning the topic. It was assumed that if you really managed to collect all three Deathly Hallows, you were able to go back in time. The Master of Death stood outside of the normal mortal restrictions. With being a realm walker too, he could carry belongings, familiars and a companion as well. (It was hardly likely Daphne was leaving him after both lost their virginity to each other in 2 months after she was brought; all sirens, veelas and vampires mated for life and with his siren abilities, body magic and prowess in sex magic, he was much too adept at quenching Daphne's lust).Harry was pondering if the gain would be worth the risks. He could at most return to the day he was born. His limitation was his own lifespan. So he couldn't stop Voldemort's rise to power. That would have been by far his most favourite way. The thing he did not know how to face was the chance to prevent his parents' death. It would make things incalculable, but then again so would his whole time-travelling if he did it.

What if Voldemort would get away in 1981 because he changed the past too much? He had been winning back then. But then again, he had defeated, even if by a fluke, him with much more power behind him. At least back in 1980 Voldemort didn't have the Ministry under his control. The aurors were trained much better and more numerous. He also knew what the horcruxes were and where they were hidden. That was one advantage he could fully utilize. And now he had a Daphne Daniels (as he had named her the lady of that house) that was more powerful than an adept mage after he trained her for 2 centuries. She was now equipped with a foci as well that Harry created for her, but unfortunately with all experiences in past, she was now only loyal and trusting to him and none other but him. On top of that he had the money to counter the Death Eaters' plans to fully take over the economy. Many businesses had been bought by them after the first war when the former owners had been forced to sell because they didn't have any money to rebuild them. His decided to double his already enormous gold and liquid gold resources by putting the unclaimed Voldemort-islands of the past under fidelius and claiming them discreetly all for himself.

It was a good idea when he thought about it. He had knowledge of the future, could find out exactly which enterprises were the most profitable and buy them before the Death Eaters could. He would only need a trunk like Moody's keyed to only him where all other shrunken trunks could be kept for now. He would probably get it for free for killing Voldemort. Perks of being a hero. Perhaps two were even better for Daphne. There were some inventions that would make a lot of money that had been made after Voldemort's fall. The wolfsbane potion not being the least of them. There had to be books that described the most successful businesses and the most incredible discoveries of the wizarding world since 1980. And for the muggle world too. Having a Business Empire on which he could fall back if the wizarding world didn't work out completely would be smart. It would also make a lot of things easier.

Most wizards didn't have a clue about muggles; look at Mr Weasley, the supposed expert on them at the Ministry. He didn't even know the most basic things about money, and the numbers were printed on the bills and the coins. And if he went back to the day of his birth he would have a little over a year to get everything started. He could look for the books on the wizarding economy of Britain in particular and Europe on top of it at Flourish & Blott's and every well-stocked muggle book store would have the others. He knew that there were books that summarized economic history. He would also need to get all the material for seventh year down. Even if he was in the past, he would need his NEWTs to ever get anywhere. His OWLs were very fantastic as he had secretly broke the ever famous Flammel-record very badly and earned for himself the title of the wizard of the millennia. Daphne's was the real enticing for him though. Her OWLs claimed her to be their year's second after him and it was on par with his mother's – who herself was the witch of the century. But they both now desperately needed their NEWTs. Not that they would have any problem with the vast knowledge residing in their heads though. Still, afterall nobody took a wizard without NEWTs seriously.

He would have to see about a fake identity that couldn't be seen through easily. Somebody who had existed, but died without anybody knowing until much later or never. Daphne's was the easiest to be handled so far as the Daniels line was out for 5 centuries so her whereabouts of getting raised in a magical orphanage would solve the problem.

There were a few cases that may help him too now that he looked; he had heard Hermione talk about them when they were alone on the search. She had needed something to do and talk about that distracted her from Ron's betrayal. And true identifications like passports in the muggle world didn't exist in the wizarding world. Everybody would be able to see that he was a Potter. But his grandfather Charlus had had a younger brother who had gone missing when Charlus had still been in his thirties. Family tapestries didn't show the date of death automatically, only the date of birth so nobody had been able to say if Charlus brother had died or not.

And the Potter tapestry had been destroyed in a Death Eater attack on the manor in which Charlus and Dorèa Potter had died. So nobody would be able to call a lie if Harry pretended to be the son of the missing younger brother who had died when he had been a toddler. H would then claim for himself the titles and reveal only the Eveningshades among them. Charlus's brother had been eleven years younger than him, so the deception would be able to work. After all, every blood test would confirm Harry as a Potter. And as long as nobody forced him to do a complete heritage test, he would be safe. And honestly, who wanted to know more than that he was family when everybody kept secrets?

His decision was made. He would go back and change the future for the better… with Daphne as she made him recall by hitting him on head, rather heard. This world was too messed up, especially here in Britain. His feelings for Ginny were probably the results of long-term exposure to love potions from the Weasleys. Otherwise the sudden drop of them when Ron had left and now that Kreacher made very sure to check all his food and drinks for poison and said potions from crazy fans, couldn't be explained. It hurt, but he would get over it. He had the chance to change things. He would be able to even get a better childhood for his younger self. First he needed to put a fake Elder Wand into Dumbledore's grave. Then he should take all the books he needed from Dumbledore's private collection. After all, he wouldn't miss them being dead.

He would go into the forest, it should be easy to find the Resurrection Stone if he started from Hagrid's hut, and complete the Deathly Hallows properly. In a few months he should be able to get all preparations done. It was May now. Kingsley had informed him that NEWTs and OWLs for all students that were interested in taking them would be held late in August. That way he could see what topics were covered. Perhaps they even had the old tests from 1980. It was worth a try. He took the broom and flew under his invisibility cloak to the Forbidden Forest.

* * *

Getting into the Ministry archive for examinations that were older than ten years had been incredibly easy. A few simple copy spells and he had the complete exam questions. He wanted to be very sure that both he and Daphne gave their absolute best, no matter what. Now he would only have to make sure that they both got the practical side down. But with knowing the topics that was a manageable task. Interestingly he found Arithmancy to be quite easy in his 3rd year when he started wolfing the subject secretly. A lot like muggle maths and that was the one subject other than sciences, he had kept up with during the holidays as Dudley was too stupid to do his own summer homework and Harry had been forced to do it. After all, precious Dudders couldn't be forced to waste some of his all too short holidays after a stressful school year. Well, at least Harry hadn't been totally out of the loop from the muggle world that way. Maths had also been his best subject at primary school followed by sciences.

So Harry decided that despite never taking many of the class to sit those NEWT as well. After all having more NEWTs couldn't hurt after all. So like with his OWLs, he would give exams for alchemy, wandlore, foreign speech, goobledgyhook, warding among the many others with Daphne. He would also add Muggle Studies among the list which Daphne avoided like bane. The exam was a joke for anybody having lived in the muggle world for the time until Hogwarts. Hermione could have aced it without ever opening a book. Not that she would have done so. That wasn't in her personality. The Creatures that were tested in Care of Magical Creatures were also manageable thanks to Hagrid bringing in more dangerous ones than appropriate. So now Harry's revision timetable consisted of Charms, Defence Against the Dark Arts, Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, Potions, Transfiguration, Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures, Muggle Studies among others. That would give him 36 NEWTs – as many as his OWLs, a really high number that would open many doors. Daphne's 35 wouldn't be any less impressive either.

He had overheard a conversation between Ron and Ginny a short while later. He had been right. First Ginny had given him a love potion that acted slowly over months and was therefore harder to detect than outright giving him something like amortentia or the potions Fred and George sold at their shop. Ron had then continued to give him the potion while they were hunting horcruxes. All to get them the Potter and Black fortune. Ginny had got impatient before sixth year when Harry didn't act jealous after she mentioned having chosen Dean as her boyfriend. And Dumbledore had been in on the plan. Him as Ginny's husband had been the payment Molly had demanded for the Weasley's supporting Dumbledore. He really should have listened to Aberforth.

Well, he would prevent his younger self from being caught in Dumbledore's net. The one he would miss most were Luna and Neville. Even if they had got more distant since when Daphne was brought in – but that was more because of him than them.

* * *

Two weeks into August Harry got his answer to many of his questions. The pureblood faction had been even faster than he had thought they would be. A new marriage law forced halfbloods and muggleborns to marry purebloods to repopulate the fallen numbers of witches and wizards. Hermione had been quickly engaged to Ron to avoid having to marry someone like Malfoy. Neville too secured a safe engagement with Luna to get immunity before the law was enforced the very next day.

Now Harry had to make his time-travel happen earlier now. He had everything ready. Two trunks with seven compartments full of money and family heirlooms shrunk to the size of matchboxes. One trunk with books of the same size. One special trunk that was a complete apartment. He had asked for it when he was asked for a reward for killing Voldemort. He had got the other three for the price of two from the happy trunk maker. A good deal, really.

All three Hallows were in his possession. He knew how to easily make a fortune in 1980 in both worlds. And both he and Daphne had agreed upon boding in the Great Eveningshade palace once they reached there. The only thing left for him to do was getting away before the pureblood girls could end their bidding over him and before Daphne ended up ripping them to shreds. He was the most eligible bachelor of Great Britain, but as he was a halfblood he couldn't refuse a spouse that was chosen for him under the new marriage law. So on the night of the 15th August 1998 Harry Potter and Daphne Daniels vanished with all heir possessions, familiars and elves. When in the morning of the 20th the owl with the letter from the Ministry arrived to inform him that he would have to marry Romilda Vane within three months he wasn't there anymore. Only a joint letter was left to Neviile and Luna and another with a key and heirship ring of the Potters and Blacks was left behind for Edward Remus "Teddy" Lupin. And they would only find it at the end of September when they came looking for him to see how he had taken the choice of his future wife.

He wrote to them that he had used his powers to travel to a place where he could prevent this whole madness. They understood, but it hurt them that they would never see her best friend again in their life. Before anyone could interfere, and with permission from Andromeda, Neville and Luna filed in for godparent right over Teddy in Gringotts that Harry left behind for them after negating his and Hermione's the day earlier so that the Weasleys may not get their hands over Teddy.

Harry Potter had gone back in time. And if he had managed his goal he had gone back eighteen years to the 1st August 1980.


	2. Meeting the Potters

The Department of Magical Education, DME for short, was filled with young witches and wizards that were sitting their OWL or NEWT exams. Most were home-schooled, but some wanted to have exams in subjects they didn't take at Hogwarts and couldn't fit into their study schedule when they were taken there. They only had to apply for them before starting the exams at Hogwarts. It was few who did though. Some who had for example learned Arithmancy or Ancient Runes over the summers as their families were good in them and they had wanted to take other subjects and fitting so many classes into one time table was difficult. One young man and women were especially ambitious. Madam Marchbanks had seen for which subjects they had applied to sit his NEWTs and she wondered how they would do. After all, even obtaining 8 NEWTs was extraordinary. But 36 or as in the girl's case 35? Clearly astounding. Normally students took five or six. But it was their decision and what kind of educator would she be to suppress their desire to learn?

Over this whole week the exams were taken. This was the third day of testing and so far they had surprisingly finished about 22 subjects alredy. The duos writing speed is inhuman, and the way they were writing, it was like they have written the exams a hundred times already. Even their penmanship were completely floral. While practicals that included brewing or carving took time, still they were completed as fast as they could, and sometimes they even surprised her by multi-tasking. It was after their first day that she went through their OWLs and to say that she was shocked would be an understatement. They were estimated that by Friday they would conclude the testing with Herbology, Care of Magical Creatures and Wandlore.

Madam Marchbanks had first thought that James Potter was playing a prank on her to celebrate the birth of his first son, and had somehow dragged Ophelia Greengrass in his pranks too. But the young man and woman that looked so much like them had introduced themselves as lord to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Eveningshade Hadrian Eveningshade, and the lady to the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Daniels, Daphne Daniels. Turns out that the boy was James Potter's cousin, the son of her old friend Charlus' long thought dead younger brother Edward. Well, Edward had died seventeen years ago when Hadrian was just a year old. It had been an accident. Sadly the boy's mother had also died from an illness three years later and Hadrian was left to grow up with his mother's family, whose name he had still worn to this day. The young woman was raised in a magical orphanage and was taken in by the Eveningshades to provide Hadrian with a companion at the age of 5. The Eveningshades had died in a Death Eater attack five months ago. As they didn't trust Dumbledore, Hadrian and on his insists, Daphne had been home-schooled. They grew up together and started seeing each other romantically at 14 and after some fuss from the Eveningshades, they were finally engaged 2 years ago when Daphne's lineage came to light. They had learned the rest of their classes' material in self-study and now they were here.

* * *

Harry had made sure that his story had no deplorable holes. Hadrian Eveningshade had died five months ago with his parents in a mysterious accident. He hadn't been healthy enough to go to Hogwarts so he had been home-schooled. It was perfect. Nobody knew Hadrian, but all recognized the ever infamous, fearful and intimidating Eveningshades, so Hadrian Eveningshade could take his place. With him claiming all his lordships bar the Black, Evans and Potter, he named Daphne the Lady to House Daniels and also signed between themselves a contract that would make them immune from any interference to their personal life. Both agreed to have the marriage though once their missions were completed. Now they along with his elves (he found many still alive in the palace unlike in his age and quickly bonded to them, making them humanoid), were warding the estate using all kinds of wards he had found in the books from his very huge library.

The Eveningshade, Draccul, LeFays and Blacks were experts in this fields. Dark as the bastards had been, they were fantastic at protecting their property. And in these days nobody cared how you secured your home. The mine-island that he put under fidelius as soon as they arrived were now legally his. The island and the surrounding islands, about thirty-six hectares of plain had taken about ₲ 40,000 from his funds. A bargain indeed as normally a property of that size would have easily cost him ₲ 150,000. But paying directly for it and a ₲ 10,000 bonus for the goblin in charge to arrange a quick transaction dealt with that issue. After all, it was better for Gringotts to have sold the land without the Ministry finding out about anything, claiming it under the law of extinct lines and selling it to the highest bidder, putting the profit into their own pockets, the goblins seeing nothing of it. And the goblins could only keep the extinction of lines a secret for a year. After that a treaty forced them to give the Ministry the information. Oh how greatly they would have moaned, had they known what lay under these islands, thought Harry viciously.

Another property was bought by him when he found it under bids. In his past Lucius Malfoy had bought the property from the Ministry after he had been 'proven' to be an imperius victim and turned it into a highly profitable acromantula farm. Acromantula silk was highly pricey and favoured by the high society of the wizarding world in their clothes. If Hagrid was smarter he could sell the silk from the nets in the Forbidden Forest for a fortune, but he would never do that to his 'friend' Aragog. Now Lucius wouldn't be able to do that. The best part was, as he hadn't technically broken into Gringotts the goblins had no problems with serving him again. Though he only opened a business vault. His company, MoD Enterprises, would be the cover for his plans. In this vault he placed ₲ 600,000,000,000. A very small amount for him indeed. The family fortunes were still secured. The rest of his money, which the goblins would never be informed of any time soon, would be otherwise secured. There was no way that he would trust the nasty, ungrateful buggers more than necessary.

He also exchanged another ₲ 6,000,000 into pounds which gave him £ 300,000,000. He knew that the exchange rate was too little, but the Ministry was fixing them, so even if the goblins would have wanted to they couldn't have given him more. But it was enough to get started there too with all the information he had from the future. The goblins were only told that he planned to do business in both worlds and therefore needed to open an account at a muggle bank as well as at Gringotts. In the biggest book store in London he had looked up the books that described the most successful companies at the Stock Exchange in detail.

On top of opening the vault he set up a secrecy agreement that included that the goblins, if they ever revealed the identity of the owner of MoD Enterprises or any information on Hadrian's personal property and heritage would be fined with ₲ 1,000,000. They would think a lot before risking that. They were too greedy. For Hadrian Eveningshade couldn't be found out, and this was the one weak spot in his disguise.

Armed with the £ 300,000,000 he went to the most renowned investment bank and opened an investment account as well as a giro account in his name. A confundus charm took care of the missing documents; he planned to get them through the Ministry after getting his NEWTs. He bought shares of all the most successful companies. In a year he would have tripled his investment he knew. It might be unfair to other investors, but why should he care? He had a world to save.

Right now he finished the written part of the Potions NEWT with Daphne following closely behind. Knowing the questions beforehand was such a good way to ensure success. Hermione would have chewed him out for cheating. Well, technically it was, but he or Daphne didn't need the theory anymore. They just knew what to learn and with the limited amount of time that they had to prepare for the war, it was simply necessary. He had spent most of his supposed seventh year at Hogwarts on the run from the Ministry, Voldemort and his Death Eaters and trying to find horcruxes without having proper information and training and Daphne was out to hiding after her sister gave away their cover and had their parents murdered. They both deserved a little advantage for once.

He now had fifteen minutes till the Muggle Studies exams would start while Daphne will relax in that time. His practical exam in Potions would be after a short lunch break.

* * *

James Potter waited in front of the doors of the Ministry examination rooms. He had heard a rumour about a young wizard that looked terribly like him in facial features, but with more handsome outlook, killer physique and taller height, was sitting the NEWTs in thirty six classes along a home-schooled student with a girl that could make Ophelia Greengrass envy (the present holder of witch weekly's most sought after woman even after marriage; to James's amusement, Lily held the second place for an equally longer time as well). He wanted to know what was going on. It was now about lunchtime and his possible relative would come out for the break before taking the Potions practical exams. Finally the doors opened. James looked around and found the young couple he had been looking for. The similarity was shocking and so were their inhuman beauty and grace. It was like looking at two fallen demi-gods.

Hadrian saw his father immediately. That hadn't been planned. Not this early. How should he react? Daphne for sure was emotionless and no way in hell was he going to let her in a conversation if he could help it. He was glad words don't kill literally or his love would long have been proclaimed to be Voldemort's equal in murder. Well, it would be best to face this offensively.

"Hello, uhm, were you waiting for me?" Hadrian asked.

"Yes, I heard that somebody that could be my twin was taking the NEWTs." James answered. "Naturally I was curious."

"Then you are James Potter I presume? Madam Marchbanks accused me of pranking her to celebrate my son's birth by taking the NEWTs under a slight transformation and dragging some Ophelia someone with me." Hadrian said calmly, seemingly trying to make heads or tails of this new arrival. The pressure at the hand Daphne was holding for referring her mother's surname as 'someone' didn't really help in the situation.

"She did? That would have been a good idea for a prank, I admit. Though dragging Ophelia would be like calling for death. Her fury was the second infamous after Lily's. I am indeed James Potter. And who are you and this beautiful maiden?" James asked grinning now as he kissed the knuckles of Daphne's unengaged hand.

"The beautiful maiden is my very dear fiancée, Daphne Marie Daniels, Lady of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Daniels, while my name is Hadrian Edward Eveningshade, Lord of the Most Ancient and Most Noble House of Eveningshade." Hadrian answered, somewhat enjoying the stunned face of his father. He had managed to make Daphne wear some muggle clothes and after the initial resistence wore down, she could be seen wearing them casually at home or in muggle atmospheres. He convinced her to do the same during these 5 days and after some protests, she gave in reluctantly. So now James was thinking along the line hat heir and heiress to Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses in muggle attire? Somehow it had him relax that his newfound relatives weren't blood-purists, or supporters of blood-supremacy." Are you by any chance related to Charlus Potter?"

"He was my father." James said sadly. The death of his parents through the Death Eaters last year still hurt. "Why do you ask?"

"Because my aunt and uncle, whom I grew up with after my mother died when I was four, said that Charlus Potter was my father's older brother. My father was Edward Potter, but I can't remember him. He died in an accident when I was one year old. They never had children of their own so they raised me to one day take up the mantle of Lord Eveningshade, and well now here I am." Hadrian explained.

"That would make you my cousin." James exclaimed astonished. "Why did I never hear of you? Dad searched so long for Uncle Edward."

"Really? I don't know why my father never contacted your father, but after Mum died I was taken in by the Eveningshades and they treated me like their own son. I also took my OWLs as Hadrian Eveningshade. Sadly my aunt and uncle died in a Death Eater attack a few months ago." Hadrian told with a sad look on his face his made-up story.

It wasn't difficult to get the right mourning look. He wasn't a master Occlumens for nothing, and contrary to the popular belief, a master Occlumens could not only hide, but also fake his emotions.

"I see. Well, with your looks nobody couldn't help thinking of you as a Potter anyway. That hair is traitorous." James declared, trying to cheer his cousin up a bit.

"Don't I know it? Untameable and always looking as if you just came out of your bed. Only my magical surge and blood adoption by my uncle and aunt helped cure it." Hadrian complained realising that his father was trying to cheer him up.

"What do you think about visiting my wife and me for dinner? I would like to get to know my cousin and his fiancée. I don't have much family left and the more I get the happier I'm." James suggested. He also noted Daphne wasn't a very talkative person. With the war on, he realized there must be some serious reason behind her cold exterior, and he would respect her privacy. He could see that she was completely at ease with his cousin and visibly trusted him more than anything else. This atleast proves that his cousin is noble.

"Uhm, okay, that sounds nice. Though we would like to wait until we are finished with our NEWTs. At the moment we revise every evening. We can't wait until we finish on Friday and finally relax that evening." Hadrian said wistfully.

"I understand, NEWTs are tough. What about Saturday evening?" James asked hopefully.

"That works for us. Where should we meet you?" Hadrian asked for the both of them, though surprised that his father had invited him so quickly.

He wouldn't have thought he would trust a stranger, no matter if he was his cousin, so quickly. Especially not with a new-born baby in the house.

"I will meet you 2 at the visitor's entrance of the Ministry at seven. Sorry about that, but I will need to do some security checks before I take you both with me to my home." James said.

"That's no problem. I would have thought you to be crazy to trust a stranger in these dangerous times if you didn't, James." Hadrian replied.

"Thanks for understanding, Hadrian. Well, I don't have much family left on my father's side and most of my mother's family is dark. So I hope we can get along." James explained looking at both of them now.

Harry outright laughed at that. "With a Black mother you are labeling her former family dark? What about my mum's former and my current family? People run to hide at the name of Eveningshades, not that I know why." James couldn't help but laugh. True indeed. Blacks are saints in reputation when compared to his cousin's family. After controlling his amusement when Daphne, much to Jame's amusement, jabbed harry at the ribs sharply, he said, "I can understand your concerns. I will be at the entrance at seven." Hadrian agreed. "Don't be cross with me, but I need to get something to eat before my Potions practical. My dear lady will have a free time which unfortunately I won't so I must hurry."

"No problem. Good luck for your remaining NEWTs. Goodbye." James said which Hadrian returned, and much to James's relief, Daphne finally nodded an acknowledgement. The girl was pretty depressed over something, and only seemed to trust Hadrian. He wouldn't interfere unless welcomed, but support is something he can offer. Afterall what are families for? And now that she was his long-lost cousin's love, she was family to him anyway. And nothing is more important to a Potter than his family.

"Thanks, bye." Hadrian said and went, with Daphne held in his hand, to the room that was set up for the examinees to eat and rest between their exams. Their paces, as James analyzed amusedly, was very co-ordinated and was too predatorily graceful to make even a vampire envious. 'Love built on the roots of a very old friendship and trust indeed,' thought James as the couple disappeared into the room, leaving people of both sexes drooling at their wake. Truly, had he not loved Lily and wasn't married happily to her, he would be envious of his cousin, but he was content with what he had. In the same retrospect, had Hadrian attended Hogwarts with him, he was doubtful he would have received as much attention of the opposite sex, as he had received. He was a killer, he could say that even by being a male.

* * *

In the break-room Hadrian finally relaxed, eating his share of ham-sandwich. That had gone better than he had feared. He had made contact with his father and could probably influence him in some way. Perhaps even save him and his mother. He would have to see how things developed. Now he only needed to maintain his cover. Daphne started rubbing the palm she was holding, soothingly to give as much comfort, as she can to help him comfort. In gratitude Hadrian gave her a sweet chaste kiss and was rewarded with the heart-clenching smile that was only reserved for him, as she laid her head on his shoulders and snuggled comfortably, before resuming eating her sandwich.

* * *

Saturday evening Hadrian apparated to the visitors' entrance with Daphne looking around carefully with left hand's firm grip over their Holly/Chestwood wands they bought from Ollivander the moment they arrived and right hand's over their foci rings – they knew ambidextrous casting proficiently. It wouldn't do showing off Hadrian's foci around and neither was wielding the Deathstick before so many people a sane idea. So even though they were now lesser effective, they went and got their Ollivander wands and it was their former wands that selected them. Hadrian completely tuned out Ollivander's babbling about Voldemort's brother-wand this time around.

He had made some inquiries about James Potter with Madam Marchbanks as he was sure his father would have done the same. After all it was only common sense to be careful in these dangerous times. Just yesterday the McKinnons, save Marlene, had been murdered. Hadrian knew that they had been friends with his parents, and Marlene was Sirius's serious girlfriend third time around, so he had Kreacher protect the girl, knock her out and dispose her in Sirius's bedroom – wherever it was. The disgruntled elf did his best, but he was overpowered by 10 death-eaters, and at last chose to follow his master's orders to words, and thus saved only Marlene.

They heard a low crack of apparition and they held their wands ready, but hidden in their holsters. It wouldn't do to openly use it in the muggle world except he didn't have a choice. They could sense anti spotting wards around, but they need to pretend they didn't know that, or they'll be giving out too much soon. It was James. Hadrian would have asked security questions if he would know something only James would know, but it would be strange for him to know something like that.

"You're on time, that's good." James said. "I will just do some detection spells; feel free to do the same."

"In a muggle area? Isn't that too dangerous?" Hadrian asked though both he and Daphne knew the answer to that.

"Notice-me-not wards around the entrance area for twenty metres. It wouldn't do after all if the muggles get too curious about the telephone booth we're using to let visitors inside." James explained happy to see Hadrian be cautious.

Hadrian nodded and did some revealing charms while Daphne opted to keep her wand ready for any sudden surrounding disturbances. There were no glamour charms on James, but it still left the possibility of polyjuice potion. But for now he would shock his father with a bit of knowledge that would be incredibly valuable in the war and had only been found out last time around the end when Snape had turned traitor on the dark side.

"Would you mind showing me your bare left forearm, James?" Hadrian asked.

"Huh? How would that help?" James asked confused.

"I want to see if you have a Dark Mark on your forearm." Hadrian answered.

James shrugged and pushed his sleeve up, showing the clean arm, Hadrian mirrored the action.

"Thanks, when my aunt and uncle were killed, we were there too, but I managed to find cover fast enough for the both of us knowing that that's the best thing to do for the moment seeing that we were outnumbered. I saw a man touch a Dark Mark on his forearm and shortly after the Death Eater apparated in and threw up anti-apparition and anti-portkey wards. Thanks to our cover we were able to get away uninjured, but my aunt and uncle weren't as lucky. They were hit by killing curses that the Death Eaters fired into the crowd without a care for who they hit. They didn't even stop before children." Hadrian spat disgusted.

"Hadrian, that's really important information. I didn't know that Death Eaters could be identified by a visible mark on their arms. I'll have to tell my boss, Mr. Crouch, and Professor Dumbledore." James exclaimed excitedly.

Hadrian nodded. Perhaps this would help to get a better grip of the Death Eaters. They needed to get rid of as many of them as possible. And Dumbledore was the wrong one to do the job. In this situation the ruthless Crouch, if tempered a bit and given a push in the right direction was the better man to do the necessary things.

* * *

Hadrian and Daphne reached James and Lily's home by side-along apparition. It made sense to keep the location a secret. Though Hadrian still recognised Godric's Hollow. Never would he forget that Christmas Eve of 1997. James led them inside the cottage and showed them where he could place his cloak.

"Lily, we're here." James called out.

"Five minutes, James, I'm just changing Harry's diapers." Lily called back from upstairs.

"Your son's name is Harry?" Hadrian asked chuckling.

"Yes. Why is that funny?" James asked back.

"Oh, it's just that Harry is my nickname. That's why I thought it was funny." Hadrian answered.

"That indeed is a funny coincidence. Though I will keep calling you Hadrian. Otherwise it gets confusing and calling you the older Harry and my son the younger Harry would be too much of a mouthful," said James.

"True." Hadrian agreed and took a seat in the living room followed by Daphne. "How old is Harry?" He thought how strange that question sounded.

"Just a week. He was born 31st July. That isn't your birthday as well, is it?" James asked.

Hadrian laughed and shook his head.

"No, my birthday is 5th of April. That would have been a bit much if we also shared a birthday." Hadrian commented knowing full well that they had the same birthday.

But his new identity had been born on 5th April, so he had to go with that. Daphne's go for 29th July though.

"Yes, you're right." James agreed.

Then they heard steps on the stairs. Soon Lily Potter stood in the living room, her baby in her arm.

"Lily, please meet my cousin Hadrian Eveningshade and his fiancée Daphne Daniels. Hadrian, this is my wife Lily and our son Harry." James introduced them.

"It's nice to meet you Hadrian and Daphne," Lily said warmly surprised that the couple were even more like demi-gods than her husband mentioned.

"Nice to meet you too, Lily. And of course Harry." Hadrian replied smiling. While Daohne once again gave a cool nod. James had already warned Lily about Daphne and now she could see his concerns. The girl wasn't like other pure-bloods as she was wearing muggle jeans and t-shirts but still she lacked any warmth or trust on others.

However both of them were surprised when she spoke in an enticing voice with little warmth and a very small smile, "It's good to meet you too Lily and James and I apologise if I gave some unwanted first impression the last time I met James. My past taught me not to be very trusting of people, and till this day, with the exception of Hadrian, I haven't let anyone through my shields. So I was rather unprepared the last time around and didn't manage to get my bearings straight for holding a smooth conversation." Well now even Hadrian was surprised. Daphne smiled internally. She knew how much his parents meant to her love and if warming up to them can make him happy, she was more than willing to.

It took a moment for James to answer, "Not at all Daphne. I can truly understand where you are coming from. With your troubled past I can realize how my sudden appearance must have been interpretated, and I'm very sorry for that matter. But tell you what these apologies are hardly going to take us anywhere, and since you are now part of the family already, it doesn't even matter. So think nothing of it at all," finished James with a smile that Daphne returned with a small one of hers. Lily was torn between feeling pleased that the girl, she had already taken a liking to in the few moments along with Hadrian, had accepted them and rebuking her husband for such a rash first impression.

Hadrian meanwhile had given up on deciphering Daphne long ago and was instead concentrating on his counterpart, somewhere thinking along the lines of, 'Unbelievable that I was that small at one point in time.'

His younger self sucked at a pacifier and held a strand of his mother's long red hair in his tiny hand. After everything was settled, James took Harry from Lily and sat down on the couch. Hadrian felt a small pang of guilt for leaving his godson Teddy Lupin behind. But if he had success perhaps Teddy wouldn't need his godfather so much because he had his parents. And he feared what the new government would do to the son of a werewolf. Thus he provided him the necessary immunity by making him heir to 2 Most Ancient and Most Noble Houses. Now he simply had to succeed. He only hoped that with him changing the past Teddy would still be born. After all, Remus and Tonks had only met through the Order. But if somebody was meant to be together they would find each other. That had also been in the book about the powers of the Master of Death. He could only hope it was true for Remus and Tonks.

* * *

The evening was really nice and Hadrian and Daphne took turns and told his made-up life story while James told him of Hogwarts and his friends. Then Lily told about her family and Hadrian drank up all the stories. To finally get to know his parents was like a dream come true. He would do all he could to get those damned horcruxes before next year's Halloween. Perhaps he would succeed. Though the first step would be to get Barty Crouch to pass a law that all assets of known Death Eaters are to be sized by the Ministry and examined for dark objects. That would get him the one horcrux, Hufflepuff's cup, which he couldn't get normally. On top of that it would lose Voldemort money. All other horcruxes he could get on his own as he had already dealt with their protection in the future or knew what they were. Well, except for the precise protection of the ring, but in case they were too strong he could drop a hint to Dumbledore to let him get it out of the Gaunt shack again.

The locket would soon be in the cave. Regulus Black had died in January 1981. So that one was first on his list. Sirius had been sad that his brother had died, which Hadrian wanted to prevent. Kreacher had known the whole story about how Voldemort had placed that horcrux, so saving Regulus would be possible. Kreacher had said that it had been two months between the placement of the locket and Regulus' death. Which meant that sometime in November the horcrux would be brought there. The best time to sneak into Hogwarts to get some basilisk venom to imbue another goblin made blade would be over the Christmas holidays. Then he could get the diadem too and simply kill the basilisk. With a rooster this time if the proud Sally would let him! She had said simple that killing a 1000 year old grandpa-serpent was a cake-walk for a trained young mercenary like her and she wouldn't have it otherwise. There was no way he would let that monster live even if the diary would be taken care off before it could ever be given to a student.

If Voldemort decided to sneak into the castle in disguise and let the beast free or set it to kill Dumbledore, why he hadn't done that before was beyond Hadrian. Honestly, he would have gained a lethal weapon. Thankfully after a long interrogation of Draco Malfoy, who had been surprised about Hadrian's viciousness, he knew that the Dark Mark on all Death Eater's arms had been put there with Parseltongue. And a very bastardized form at that. From the knowledge he acquired from the dark-wanker, he knew that the fool never delved in parsel-magic much as the script, though decipherable to him was locked away for he wasn't Slytherin's official heir. Naturally nobody else knew the spell that Voldemort used. It made him look more mysterious and superior being able to use magic others couldn't. So taking it away should also be possible that way. Especially with the Elder Wand.

Then the ring in the Gaunt shack. He only needed to remember the curse on the ring. Though using it to get rid of Dumbledore close to the date where Voldemort was vanquished was tempting. He didn't like killing, but Dumbledore was doing more harm than good with his manipulations.

The diary was at Malfoy Manor, probably the secret room under the living room that Draco had boasted about in their second year at school when Hadrian and Ron had used polyjuice potion to investigate if Draco Malfoy was the heir of Slytherin. Getting the aurors there to search for an anonymous tip that Lucius was a Death Eater would be easy. For once Crouch was useful. The point he wasn't sure about was Nagini. Was she a horcrux already? It was improbable. His murder should have been the trigger for the creation of the final horcrux. So right now there should be either four or five horcruxes, normally five. The diary, the ring, the diadem and the cup were ones for sure. The locket could have been made one just before it was placed in the cave.

He now only needed basilisk venom to get started and a perfect source was resting under his skin. But he'd be out with the one hibernating under Hogwarts as well.

Then he forced himself back into the conversation and enjoyed the evening. No matter what, his horecrux hunt would have to wait a bit.


End file.
